The Ornithologist’s Field Guide to Love

Starting a new series about academics living in a fantasy Victorian England, Holton, who earned LJ Best Book nods for The Secret Service of Tea and Treason, blends adventure, romance, and ornithology—along with pockets full of humor, charm, jokes, and tea. Beth Pickering, a just-a-bit put-upon scholar hoping for tenure, is about to snag a coup—a rare deathwhistler bird—when out of the blue swings professor Devon Lockley, stealing the bird and stranding Beth on the far side of a ravine, without tea or a parasol in sight. Their paths cross again when he too is stranded at the start of a competition to capture the endangered caladrius bird and claim Birder of the Year victories—and tenure. Beth, now just a bit fed up, finds in Devon an unexpected ally. He is handy to steal a boat with, find a horse with, and slowly discover nefarious plans with. Devon finds in Beth nothing less than joy.